High School Profile Building: Where to start?

Whether you’re just about to head into high school or you’re part way through your high school career, there’s no time like the present to start working on your profile in order to get into a great college. 

Is it ever too late to work on your profile? Technically no, it’s never too late to make changes to your profile if you find new areas in which you wish to explore. However, if you’re hoping to make changes to your profile in order to get into a great college, there are very few changes that can make a big bang if you wait until months before your applications are due to start working on them. 

Ideally, high schoolers will start working on their profiles in their freshmen year. Freshman year can be an explorational year where students will discover clubs, classes, and activities of interest to hone in on in the next years of high school. In general, you’ll want to hone in your activities towards areas that have some consistency in your future goals versus the “well-rounded” profile of students who are overloaded with activities that seemingly feel a bit more randomized. 

It’s also a great time to consider if / what APs are offered and which ones you might want to take in the future. APs can be a great way to add challenging courses into your profile, but don’t fret if your school doesn’t offer them or doesn’t offer many of them. If you are struggling to keep up in regular courses, then APs may not be for you.

Early high school years are a great time to start exploring what you might want to study in the future and internships are a great way to get some exposure into how business work and various work functions operate. Again, if you are struggling to keep up with your classes, you may not want to add on too much all at the same time. Internships during school breaks could be an effective way to not let this type of experience interfere with your coursework. 

Around Sophomore year we suggest planning ahead for your ACT / SAT. Many applicants take these exams more than once so keep this in mind as you prepare. It’s always a good idea to have a few months of wiggle room prior to your application deadlines  in case a retake is necessary. If you’re a student that struggles with test taking, then you may want to start considering test-prep options specifically for those tests.

Finally, think ahead to what schools you might want to apply to. School visits can happen at any time but are commonly done during Sophomore and Junior years. If you don’t have the ability to visit in person, definitely check out the virtual info sessions and try to chat with current students / alumni about their experiences.